regular line," added the naval officer.

"But there are regular lines from Havana, Mexico, Jamaica, and the
Windward Islands," suggested the agent of the Confederate government.

"Very true, and it is not necessary that I should make a port in the
Confederate States before I begin my work on the ocean," said Captain
Rombold. "I have my commission from your government, with full powers to
act, though I desired to make a port in the South, for, as you are
aware, my wife is a native of Georgia, and is at her father's plantation
at the present time. I captured two Yankee vessels off the Azores, and
burned them."

"I have no doubt about your powers; but can you not aid me in getting to
England?" persisted the colonel.

"If you will take the chances, I can, Colonel Passford. If you will go
on board of my ship to-morrow afternoon, and sail with me, I have no
doubt we shall overhaul a steamer bound to England in the course of a
week, for I will get into the track of these vessels."

The agent promptly accepted this proposition, and soon after the
conference ended, though not till the listener had taken himself out of
the way, Christy had turned over in his mind a plan to terminate very
suddenly his uncle's mission to purchase steamers, and to obtain
possession of his drafts. M. Rubempre was adroit enough to accomplish
almost anything, and he intended to have the detective make the
colonel's acquaintance, and induce him to embark with them in the
Eleuthera, pretending that he was going to France himself, and intended
to intercept a French steamer from Progreso, whose course lay but a
short distance south of the Bermudas.

But the plan suggested by Captain Rombold, and adopted by Colonel
Passford, saved him from what the young officer regarded as his duty in
the deception and capture of his uncle. When the Bellevite, while she
was still the yacht of Captain Horatio Passford, had gone to the
vicinity of Mobile, to the home of his father's brother, Homer had done
all in his power to capture the steamer for the use of his government,
and had made war upon her with armed vessels. He had done so
conscientiously, believing it to be his duty to his country. This fact
from the past made it easier for Christy to think of such a thing as the
capture of his uncle, even in a neutral country.

The young man returned to the Atlantic Hotel. He found M. Rubempre still
fast asleep, for his slumbers the night before had been very brief.
He